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Rise of Christianity and the origins of Christian culture

CD1-35_001

III. The Rise of Christianity and the Origins of Christian Culture.
Christian Culture arose from the impact of a unique oriental
faith and religious tradition on the cosmopolitan culture of the
Mediterranean world which had just "been reorganized and united by
the Roman Empire. The Christian Church and the Roman Umpire
<v were practically contemporary with one another and it seemed to
many Christians in the succeeding period that there was a providential connection between the establishment of a universal state and
the coming of a universal religion. But it would be a grave mistake to suppose that Christianity was the result of a movement of
religious syncretism that corresponded with the cultural syncretism
of the Roman-Hellenistic world. On the contrary the two societies
were altogether alien from one another and had their origin in
completely different worlds. While the rest of the Mediterranean
world was being integrated into one great society by the influence
of Hellenistic culture and education and Roman government and law,
one little people obstinately refused to be assimilated. The
stronger the external pressure of -the world society, the more
a intense was the consciousness of the Jewish people in its unique
destiny which set it apart from the Nations. For more than a
thousand years they had maintained their faith through the successive waves of conquest that had overwhelmed the lesser peoples of
the Near East. The Assyrian and the Babylonian, the Persian and
the Macedonian had come and gone, but the hope of Israel still
lived on, and through the dark ages of conquest and oppression
the remnant of the chosen people still held, fast to the sacred
heritage of the divine law which was the foundation of their
national life. ; Thus to the Jews the Roman world empire was the
repetition of r historical pattern to which they were already
inured-by ages of spiritual trial. The irresistible material
power of the new world empire was only a further challenge to their
faith and they were convinced that their faith would be vindicated
by an act of divine judgment which would suddenly destroy the
power of the new Western Babylon and establish the Kingdom of God
and of His Saints. It was in this unique and highly specialized
society that Christianity had its origin. The coming of Christianity was the fulfillment of the Jewish tradition - a proclamation of
the coming of the Kingdom and the advent of the Messiah, but at
the same time it involved a revolutionary transformation of that
tradition by the extension of the Kingdom and the promise of a new
world order to the non-Jewish -world, and eventually by the abrogation of the old ritual and ceremonial law. Thus the new
community was from the beginning faced with a double conflict -
with traditional orthodox Judaism as well as with the dominant
power of the Gentile world. This conflict was evident from the
beginning owing to the fret that the Messiah, the son of God, the
founder of the Church and the author of salvation had been openly
rejected by the Jews and condemned to death by the authority of
the Roman state at the instigation of the leaders of the Jewish
pepole. But to the Church the death of Jesus was seen as the

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This image may be reproduced and used freely for the purposes of private study, scholarship or research without written permission. However, in order to use the digital reproductions for any other reason users must have the express written consent of the Department of Special Collections, University of St. Thomas Libraries, 2115 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55105; (651) 962-5467, e-mail: uarchives@stthomas.edu

Transcript

III. The Rise of Christianity and the Origins of Christian Culture.
Christian Culture arose from the impact of a unique oriental
faith and religious tradition on the cosmopolitan culture of the
Mediterranean world which had just "been reorganized and united by
the Roman Empire. The Christian Church and the Roman Umpire